Thursday, June 11, 2009

Anticipation

The word "anticipation" will forever conjure up visions of a ketchup bottle in midair over something remarkably delicious. I think that Heinz was quite smart to use that particular song during the old days that we had to manage ketchup out of a glass bottle. You know...the pre-squeeze bottle era. Between us, I am glad that we are doing plastic bottles now...except for the fact that the bottles at restaurants are red and look full...but are almost always anything but. However, this is not exactly what is on my mind tonight.

I was thinking of all of the preparations that we have made this week for a house guest. A young man who attends Alabama with Jill and lives in Atlanta. Because of the three hour drive, he gets to come here and stay for a couple of days. Oh, assuming that she feels better, they'll likely drive down to Gulf Shores for the day on Saturday...so my hostess duties will primarily be tomorrow night.

We've been cleaning out and cleaning up.

Just some backstory on our house. We built it in 2001 on a five acre lot in the anti-metropolis of Pike Road, AL. Pike Road is located just out of Montgomery, and finds itself in constant lawsuits with the city of Montgomery for just who owns the rights to the Home Depot and Wal-Mart sales tax revenues. It's a long story...but Pike Road has residents that are determined to not live all over each other and just want to have the decent lives that people in small town America take for granted. This is certainly not what those who live in Montgomery have at this point in time and thus the split. Not that Montgomery is a bad place...it isn't. Not really. But anyway...

We have a three bedroom house with a study, and an open floor plan...which means that the kitchen, family room and dining room are all pretty much the same room. It's not a huge house, but we have 10 foot ceilings and wood floors and I like it very much. We have a pool and a pond out back that has real live fish in it. I just love to see it from my house since I don't fish. It's icky.

The house is filled with pieces from my grandmother's house and David's parents' house and sometimes the combination seems eclectic and wonderful and sometimes...not so much. But it's home.

Our style is pretty laid back. We are an eat outside, grill-loving, barefoot kind of house where it is not a huge deal if someone spills something or tracks in soaking wet from the pool. The neighborhood dog wanders in...and we don't really see this as a problem. We just love having people here, and we hope that they feel comfortable when they are our guests.

The problem is...every time we have overnight guests, we have to vacate our bedroom so that someone can stay in it since we do not have a formal guest room. Jill's room is currently housing last year's dorm room in addition to the normal items in there. Brian's room is...well...let's just say untidy. Actually, it borders on what we in the South call "nasty" in that he refuses to keep it neat...so clean is a distant dream. I don't mind being displaced, but it does tend to make people feel bad, and it is a hassle. Because my room currently looks like eBay threw up in it, I just cannot face the prospect of getting my act together on a timetable...and so I started thinking of alternatives.

So, because Jill needs a double bedfor her apartment next year (size constraints) and we're going to eventually get a headboard from storage, we went ahead and purchased her mattress. So, as we anticipate our house guest tomorrow, he will have a brand new bed in the study (with a newly cleaned bathroom)of his very own. Hassle factor? Low to moderate. We are also anticipating my sister's visit at the end of June...and now she will have use of the bed and bath so that if I don't get this room cleaned up...I won't feel like a total loser.

We've tried to anticipate what the weather will do, what they will do, what we will eat, and even what she will wear during this visit. We don't know if this young man will meet us and go, "um...waiter, check please" or not. We don't know if they will even be speaking to each other two weeks from now. We don't know if the visit will be very fun or a dud. None of that really matters, though. Right now, we're just anticipating his arrival.

The fun is the anticipation. Meeting someone new...welcoming loved ones home...preparing to move into the first apartment. All of these are ahead of us (or so we hope). As long as we have something to look forward to...most of us can deal with the little annoyances of life. Vacations, weddings, new babies, graduations, reunions, or visits are what keep us going sometimes. They are markers in our lives.

So, here's to anticipation. The positive kind. Like something absolutely delicious is about to happen. And even if it doesn't...that really doesn't spoil the fun of what I'm feeling right now...anticipating the unknown. Oh well...here's hoping it does turn out wonderful just the same...Later!

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